Archive for October, 2006

Birthday Girl

October 31, 2006 at 9:21 am · Filed under Out & About

Today’s birthday girl is my dear little niece, Yaya.

Age: She is 13 years old.

Hight: I talked to her on the phone. It’s said she is about 1.62m, which is close to her mother’s height and far gets over to her mother’s mother’s height. I hope she can at least grow up to my height. I wouldn’t mind if she finally gets taller than me. But I hope it won’t be more than 1.75m.

Weight: I don’t believe what she told me. I think she might not be that heavy yet, although 40kg is still too little for a 1.62m girl. But it probably comes from the family. I had the same weight at the age of 12 to 13. I started to really put on weight until I reached 17. At age of 19, I remember I was 47 kg and 1.69m. But strangely, I never felt that I was thin during that period of time. The funny thing is I am feeling I am slenderer than what I was 10 years ago although the fact is I am much chubbier comparing to what I was 10 years ago. My self-image just changed. I picked on myself more often when I was young, but now, I feel comfortable and happy with what I look like and who I am. That probably can explain why I have lost the drive to lose my weight J

Physical Status: She is healthy. Has long arms and legs. Looks gorgeous and almost could suit in any kind of clothes. She prefers to have long hair and she is sensitive to fashion and styles. But she never really complained about an ugly outfit. She even wears her mother’s or my left-overs.

Mental Status: After she graduated from the primary school, she had her first social activity with her girl friend in KFC, where they paid the bill by AA. She sometimes says something we totally didn’t expect, like the topic about privacy. She even questioned my Mom “Don’t you have a private thing you want to keep other people unknown?” I also feel I can have a better chat with her than we could have 3 years ago. She knows better and has more knowledge about what happens out there. And she is a thoughtful and considerate girl. She can think from other people’s point of views, which is good. Her personality is not very strong, forceful and pushing, but she is growing up and building up her own way to deal with the world.

Extra: I am happy she learns piano and she is good at that. I am also happy with who she gets to turn out and can’t wait to see more. However, I hope she can be braver and more assertive about her own opinions, and I also hope she can be little bit more outgoing, at least at the surface, she needs to act and behave like a more outgoing person. By doing so, she might get more options of the life and more opportunities to see the big world.

Happy Birthday Yaya!!!!!

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BBQ Lamb Chops

October 30, 2006 at 9:56 am · Filed under Food & Cusine

In the past 3 months, we have been extremely big into Barbeque Lamb Chops. We bought forequarter chops, lion chops and cutlets, and tried anything might give it a good taste. The so-called BBQ is not genuine BBQ stove. Actually we just use our old and small fry pan to cook chops two or three pieces in a batch. The main ingredients consists salt, grounded basil leaves, hot chilli powder and grounded cumin seeds. Just add the ingredients in one by one during the whole cooking process.

We normally eat them at the very first of the dinner before having other dishes (vegetable or rice). After finishing lamb, we changed the plates to a rice bowl, and then started to eat like a Chinese :-)

I found it very hard to achieve both a tender taste of lamb and thoroughly cooked through meat. But I would rather get a cooked but a bit hard-to-chew lamb, not something still with blood inside.

Serve chops with your favourite red wine or some fresh cold dish made of vegetable like garlic cucumbers or crispy Tofu strips. And don’t forget to wear your shower hat and an apron which can fully cover your body or clothes. Yes, it will leave the strong smell on you after you cook them.

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Just in case

October 30, 2006 at 3:08 am · Filed under Home Sweet Home

This is my second time stopping by NRMA during this week. Not that the distance is short for me to go down there from my office which is just across the road, but the fact of “everything could happen” gets concerned us more and more. Until the recent minor car accident happened on the country unsealed road in Toccata, we realized that we are actually having our comprehensive insurance on the car. But we have gotten so used to repairing the car at our own cost in the past several years that we almost forgot we actually have bought the insurance to cover this sort of thing.

I am not surprised at all. I wouldn’t hit my own forehead and say “where has my brain gone? How come I totally forgot about that?” Probably it’s just because we are not the person who like to buy something for not-happened-yet or never-would-happen events. It is particularly true when the events are some bad lucks or unfortunate incidents. This is just not a way how a Chinese deals with bad lucks. They normally are forbidden to mention about the bad luck as they believe talking about it verbally also might bring up the bad luck to yourself.

Another issue concerns me a lot is the Home Contents Insurance. We don’t own many luxury possessions at home. But what we are having is just enough to knock us out if we for any reason lose any of them. It’s not all about the money. It’s more like the every piece of effort you have spent, how you chose something unique or you really liked, how you decided to buy, how you brought them home and how you took care of them. They reflect the memories, the stories and the preference of you. While for some of the contents, however in whatever circumstances, the insurance policy wouldn’t be able to cover if we lost them, like documents, photos, out-of-print books or CDs, or an old stuff from your Mom and Dad or an old friend. They might be very cheap, getting rusty, but you won’t be able to get the same thing (the same kind of feelings towards them as well, I guess) if you lost them.

Anyway, this is going to be some inevitable expense that will be spent on “just in case”, and we are sort of being encouraged to look at the bad or foresee the bad. I even have thought about the Life Insurance. The last offer from St. George Bank was just $11.00 a month to cover $150,000 to $250,000 of my life. Think about it! If I died, my family at least can get some money, otherwise they will get nothing to do but grieving my death very emotionally. Hehe…my proposal has been refused by my husband immediately. It looks like my life is more expensive than what I have thought and how much the policy could cover ^_^

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Been Slack and Paranoid

October 29, 2006 at 12:57 pm · Filed under Daily Living

The Day Time Saving starts from today. Since we went to sleep quite late last night and there is not a specific plan for Sunday, we just slept in till 10:30 am.

After had the brunch at 11:00, I did a bit “in-home gardening” on my two pots of plants. The Dragon’s Wings are thriving and looks very vigorous, while my Double Impatiens Ole seems have a problem with adjusting itself to the new place and new pot. Almost all the buds have fallen before they really bloom. I have asked the professional gardener and florist for the suggestions. It’s always hard for them to give the judgement before they personally sight what is happening. Anyway, I tried whatever I can do to save the poor thing. I gave it plenty water, I left it dry out, I sun-bathed it and I put it in the shady place. I don’t know it’s because the water is too much or too little. I even tried to not mention my worries in front of it (I talked about its condition very secretly and nearly like a whisper. I don’t want it to hear ^_^) and not to point any of the flowers with my fingers, which has been linked to the mistreatment or lack of respect. You think I am crazy? No…Plants have the lives and souls. I would even make my crazy behaviour further. I am going to start the music therapy or psychotherapy for it soon. I will chat with it (give it a bit encouragement or compliments every day) and let it listen to the cheerful music from tomorrow. Maybe one of these will work, who knows?

And then we decided to go out for our own sun bath. We stopped by the Fyshwick Bunnings and met our owner by coincidence. We also visited the Harvey Norman and Domayne and the conclusion we have drawn for this two shops was Harvey is the husband (mature, quite socialized and know what to do to meet the needs of all kinds of people, rich or at least looks having his control of all the money) and Domayne is the wife (trendy, modern, more female) ^_^

We came back and had our afternoon tea. We only drink coffee once a week in Sunday afternoon. Our Columbian ground coffee has been consumed really slowly, so has been the fruit cake. Only me is the one in this house eats the cake. I guess I will finish it till the Xmas, or maybe I can invite the Santa to share it with me ^_^

I spent a couple of hours listening to the music. Ingrid Maria’s Make This Moment is amazing. Oh dear, With our Jamo speakers, her voice sounds rich, deep and very musical. I thought I was at a live concert and she was just standing right in front of me and performing for me, very entertaining! She absolutely took me away.

Had at least two hours’ talking on the bed with my husband. He didn’t stop till 00:30 am the next morning. He must be on drug ^_^

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A Flowing Saturday

October 28, 2006 at 11:00 am · Filed under Out & About

With our young friends, we stopped by several places today. They are not all the sparkling spots or worth going, but it’s Saturday, who cares whether it’s a waste of time or not.

Mee’s Sushi, Main Street, Manuka:
Japanese things…..what can I say? They are expensive? Healthy? Light tasted? Fresh? Or they are just something to feed cats or dogs because portion for each serve is too little? It’s absolutely not enough for a still growing young adult, like our friend who had to grab his girlfriend’s left-over. I had 11 dollars’ Udon noodles, but I would have rather chosen MacOz meal at MacShit at 5 bucks. I know, I am mean. But I enjoy eating outdoor in the sun under the big umbrella. I also like the cushions in a line on the bench of plants tub in the next door Café shop.

My favourite House, somewhere at Griffith:
It’s a very old house. The painting on the outside wall starts to flake off, but I still love it. Long narrow windows, small balcony, colonial look and surrounded by bush, everything seems being able to satisfy my taste. I know it needs a bit repair work but the tear and wear just makes it a perfect shelter for a tired heart. I guess it would be more pleasant to look at it than living inside.

Piano sale in Canberra Grammar School, Red Hill:
Haven’t been to any piano shop for a long time since I got my piano in last September. The sale was held by Better Music, which is not the shop my husband and I really like. I don’t know why. There is something not right or not pleasant in there. I can’t breathe in there. And for some reason I always don’t feel like playing there for try out the pianos. Anyway this time they rent the Grammar school as a venue for the piano sale. The place is a concert hall or a ball room, which is even darker than their shop. I met Maria, who is the lady used to talk to me one year ago in the shop. I am surprised that I still remember her name, so we had a chat. To be frank, I am not a big fan of Kawai. Comparing to Yamaha, Kawai’s sound is just too sharp and straight forward to me. Yamaha is deeper and warmer. But this can only be found out by playing the same melody on two pianos side by side.

BBQ Stove in Harvey Norman, Fyshwick:
Among all the options, our young friends finally went for a $450.00 BBQ stove. It would be absolute a luxury appliance at home. We have already been invited for a BBQ to be held in the next weekend at their place. Can we have some lamb chops please?

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My Medical Findings

October 26, 2006 at 8:04 am · Filed under Health & Fitness

In the past 5 years, I have found that this is a country full of the following illnesses. I don’t know why, but I wanted to write something about my findings:

  • Asthma: The only famous person I know who had Asthma in China is the singer and the little sweetie Deng Lijun. And I knew this until I heard the news of her death many years ago. She actually died of Asthma. I thought she was just a very individual case on that, but after I came to Australia, it looks everybody around you at least has one family member has Asthma. Why????
  • Hay fever: I believe that every one in Australia has been a Hay fever sufferer at different stages of their lives. They sniff, sneeze, have running nose like a child and have watering eyes like they are crying for something, they take the allergy tablet and they use the nasal spray. Everyone comes to you and says “there must be the pollen”, “ I have Hay Fever” or says “I have sinus”. I am a good example. I don’t have nose problem when I was living in a heavily polluted Chinese environment where the smell of fuel and dust is full of the air. But now I use the drug every year.
  • Skin cancer: I have seen too many oldies who have skin cancer and suffered from their ulcer skin. Did they love sun too much when they were young? I am not blaming them for being a suffer playing on a beach or get tanned because they want to be a bit darker, or doing the gardening all the time. But who else has been left for me to blame?
  • Depression: When I was studying in the Uni, one of the articles said that 70% child care workers in Australia are suffering from the depression. I couldn’t believe it. As a former psychology majored professional, there was no way to make me to believe it. So I had a bit argument with the lecture who gave us the material. But you know what? Now, I believe it’s true, or at least it can be the truth. I have heard so many people saying that their friends or family members have been diagnosed as depression. What I don’t understand is what make them feel so bad when they have Medicare, live in a house, drive a Honda CRV, get so many days’ leave from the work, can have as many children as they like and don’t have to work extra hours after 6pm or take care their old parents at home. They should have been sent to China, and their depression will all get cured without treatment.
  • Arthritis: They always say to you “Oh I am sometime in a lot of pain”. And then you see those terrible standing-out joints on their bodies. Okay, what can I say? I though arthritis only happens on people who live in the areas with humid climate. But my brain has been totally refreshed since then.
  • Swollen legs and ankles: How could some one’s ankles are the same thick as his/her legs? I always wonder that when I see people passing by me with this sort of problem. I am so sorry for them. They are not fat at all, but they have big elephant legs;
  • Obesity: I am not going to get into the details. Please check out yourself on the street….

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